Ocean currents are the vertical and or horizontal movements of surface and deep waters throughout the entire world. Wind has a huge part to play with the way the surface of the oceans circulation is going;but did you know that salt even has a greater purpose for being in the ocean? Also salinity means that it has relation to do with salt. Salinity is constantly changing within our ocean. For example ocean evaporation as well as formations of sea ice creates an increase in the salinity level. But, it eventually balances out through melting of ice, rain fall, and as well as fresh water leading to the ocean. The question that we will be asking now is what salinity has to do with the oceans current circulation.
Salinity has much to do with the oceans current circulation even though we may not actually see it. It happens beneath the ocean’s surface where the oceans current circulation is occurring. Most understand that the ocean contains salt but what they do not realize is that it actually is controlling the circulation. Ocean circulation is mostly controlled by seawater density which has to do with the determination of salinity and temperature of the water. Deep water currents are also known as thermohaline circulation and are at about 400 meters beneath the ocean’s surface. Warmer water will hold less salt while colder water holds more salt so when the surface is warmer it becomes less dense. At this point in time salinity will show less at the surface and more beneath because of the different density each of these obtain. When cold water winds up rising it then forces warmer water to be pushed beneath the surface creating what we call the ocean current circulation. Another term people associate this with is The Global Conveyor Belt because this is constantly occurring throughout our entire ocean in the world. The picture above shows how the temperature, salinity, and density effects the way the actual current is moving. Since salinity has such a large play with the oceans current circulation they, also found that because of this constantly happening species rely on the currents to move themselves from place to place.
For one full year NASA recorded the levels of salinity throughout the ocean. This picture above illustrates the levels between high and low levels of salinity throughout the year from December 2011 to December 2012. With this technology the new goal in the future is to record more towards the coast and the poles of the world. This can really show how the waters in the ocean are really effected by certain things such as salinity.
Effects of Salinity on Ocean Current Circulation
Ocean currents are the vertical and or horizontal movements of surface and deep waters throughout the entire world. Wind has a huge part to play with the way the surface of the oceans circulation is going;but did you know that salt even has a greater purpose for being in the ocean? Also salinity means that it has relation to do with salt. Salinity is constantly changing within our ocean. For example ocean evaporation as well as formations of sea ice creates an increase in the salinity level. But, it eventually balances out through melting of ice, rain fall, and as well as fresh water leading to the ocean. The question that we will be asking now is what salinity has to do with the oceans current circulation.
Salinity has much to do with the oceans current circulation even though we may not actually see it. It happens beneath the ocean’s surface where the oceans current circulation is occurring. Most understand that the ocean contains salt but what they do not realize is that it actually is controlling the circulation. Ocean circulation is mostly controlled by seawater density which has to do with the determination of salinity and temperature of the water. Deep water currents are also known as thermohaline circulation and are at about 400 meters beneath the ocean’s surface. Warmer water will hold less salt while colder water holds more salt so when the surface is warmer it becomes less dense. At this point in time salinity will show less at the surface and more beneath because of the different density each of these obtain. When cold water winds up rising it then forces warmer water to be pushed beneath the surface creating what we call the ocean current circulation. Another term people associate this with is The Global Conveyor Belt because this is constantly occurring throughout our entire ocean in the world. The picture above shows how the temperature, salinity, and density effects the way the actual current is moving. Since salinity has such a large play with the oceans current circulation they, also found that because of this constantly happening species rely on the currents to move themselves from place to place.
For one full year NASA recorded the levels of salinity throughout the ocean. This picture above illustrates the levels between high and low levels of salinity throughout the year from December 2011 to December 2012. With this technology the new goal in the future is to record more towards the coast and the poles of the world. This can really show how the waters in the ocean are really effected by certain things such as salinity.
Works Citied
Netting, R. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/oceanography/physical-ocean/salinity/
Briney, A. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://geography.about.com/od/physicalgeography/a/oceancurrents.htm
-Michael Pillar